CipherCloud Acquires CloudUp for Data Loss Prevention Technology

Cloud security vendor CipherCloud announced today that is has acquired privately held stealth startup CloudUp Networks. Financial terms of the deal are not being publicly disclosed.
With the acquisition of CloudUp, CipherCloud gains enhanced data loss prevention (DLP) capabilities that provide improved security to cloud users. DLP technology tags and monitors content for access, restricting the ability of data to leave an organization without authorization. CloudUp is an early-stage company with a product that is still in beta, Paige Leidig, senior vice president and chief marketing officer at CipherCloud, told eWEEK.
Pravin Kothari, CEO of CipherCloud, added that the CloudUp technology fits in with his company's overall vision for discovering, protecting and monitoring sensitive data in cloud environments. He explained that the CloudUp piece will provide enhanced data tagging for important content, like credit card numbers. He also stressed that the CloudUp technology will complement the existing CipherCloud portfolio.
With the deal being formally announced today, Kothari expects that the CloudUp technology will be integrated into the CipherCloud product suite in the next 30 to 90 days. From an engineering perspective, the integration shouldn't be too difficult, Debabrata Dash, chief scientist and architect at CipherCloud, told eWEEK. CloudUp's technology is all Java-based, as is CipherCloud's, noted Dash. From a development tooling perspective, CloudUp uses an Eclipse-based Integrated Development Environment (IDE), which is also what CipherCloud's existing development teams use.

CipherCloud already was providing its users with cloud security and some DLP-type capabilities. Kothari said that he had to make a buy-versus-build decision when it came to advanced DLP, and he decided to buy.

While it might take three months to integrate the CloudUp technology, Kothari said it would have taken his company 12 months to build something similar on its own. As such, the time to market is accelerated, which is a good thing given the increasing demand for cloud security technologies.
In light of the recent series of disclosures from U.S. National Security Agency (NSA) whistleblower Edward Snowden about the government's ability to intercept cloud data, the need for data encryption in the cloud is very clear. In October of 2013, CipherCloud expanded its encrypted data features with a searchable strong encryption offering.
Kothari noted that the CloudUp technology will also impact CipherCloud encryption features.
"This will make our encryption solution much smarter," Kothari said.
When it comes to determining what types of data should be protected by DLP, CipherCloud has both automated and manual processes. Kothari said that the existing solution already provides a degree of automated discovery of sensitive data types that might be compliance issues for specifications like the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI-DSS) or the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA). According to Kothari, the CloudUp technology will complement CipherCloud's existing compliance data protection tools.
The new CloudUp technology joins CipherCloud during a period of rapid growth. Leidig said that CipherCloud is experiencing exponential growth and now has more than 2 million users, with customers in 15 countries. Leidig expects that over the course of 2014 the pace of growth will continue.
Sean Michael Kerner is a senior editor at eWEEK and InternetNews.com. Follow him on Twitter @TechJournalist.